


Stress Baking

by charlotteW



Category: Borderlands, Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, One Shot, Short One Shot, Stress Baking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-03-02 10:09:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23849476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charlotteW/pseuds/charlotteW
Summary: Reader's plate is full. Too much paperwork and office murder can stress anyone out. When Jack notices her habit, what ensues?{ I know Jack may be out of character in this fic, but its the first time I have written his character. I hope you enjoy!}
Relationships: Handsome Jack (Borderlands)/Original Female Character(s), Handsome Jack (Borderlands)/Reader, Handsome Jack (Borderlands)/You
Comments: 5
Kudos: 65





	Stress Baking

It was another day at the Helios station. You, the personal assistant to none other than Handsome Jack, were having a very, VERY stressful week. He had killed more than a quarter of the accounting department after some debacle with funding the next line of Hyperion shotguns, sent a temp worker into space because she annoyed him, and dumped all the paperwork on YOU to deal with. There was a large stack of papers on your desk that only grew the more you completed. Even more emails sat in your inbox about appointments and different meetings Jack was supposed to go to but “never got around to.” As much as you loved your job and the great benefits you got from it, Handsome Jack never made your job easy. With the stress, came stress baking. It was a nice change of pace to come home after work and make a loaf of bread or some cookies. You mostly shared them with your friends, but since you’ve been making new baked goods everyday they have respectfully declined your offers. You figured you’d just leave a plate of cookies or something on your desk so that when people come by, they can take them off of your hands. You had actually found your Grandmother’s old cannoli recipe and decided to make them last night. You hadn’t made them in a long time and were tiring of cupcakes and chocolate chip cookies. They were your favorite, and they weren’t too difficult.

You had made 3 dozen tiny cannolis. You saved a dozen at home, because you would be damned if you didn’t get any. A dozen were split up among your friends in the security and design departments. They knew not to pass up on these, cannolis were surprisingly hard to come by on Helios and her neighboring planets. You placed the last dozen on your desk and hunkered down for work. Dear god, had the paper stack grown? You made your cup of tea and settled in your office chair. Jack wasn’t supposed to be in for another hour, so you had time to get some paperwork done without having to worry about any more casualties that had to be filed.

After about an hour and a half, Jack still hadn’t walked past your desk. He wasn’t in his office, you had just gone in there to check and grab a paperclip from his desk. You weren’t complaining too much, it gave you enough time to get through about two-thirds of the stack of papers with minimal interruption. The only person that had visited you was the really nice girl who delivers the mail. Another hour later, you were done with the stack of papers and the emails. Well, you were for now. Deciding to take a short break, you grabbed your tea mug and went to the hot water bubbler a few feet from your desk. As soon as you started dispensing the hot water, the fast travel station down the hall whirred to life. Well, so much for your relaxing day.

“There’s my favorite secretary!” You turned around and Jack was walking toward your desk.

“And there’s my boss!” You laughed slightly and sat down at your desk, placing your mug down as well. “May I be privy to where you were?”

“Uh, ouch.” Jack laughed and leaned onto your desk. “Meetings, all that boring shit.” He looked over to where the desserts sat. You were oblivious, and were looking at your computer screen. Some guy named Vasquez wanted to schedule a meeting.

“Hey, uh… what the hell are these things?” Jack picked up one of the cannolis like he would pick up a cigar. “I know you’ve been baking a lot so they must be at least edible.”

“Yes, they’re edible.” You rolled your eyes. “They’re called cannolis. It's a type of fried pastry shell with a sweet cream filling. I even put chocolate chips on the ends.” Jack continued to look at it quizzically.

“Just eat it, I know you keep forgetting to eat.” You look up at Jack and watch him take a bite. And another. And then it was gone.

“These things are amazing.” Jack looked you in the eye and grabbed the whole plate off of your desk. “These are mine now.” He walked into his office with the plate of cannolis and left you alone at your desk. Interesting, you thought. He hadn’t complimented your baking before. During the past week, he had grabbed at least one of the things on the tray on your desk and carried on into your office, but he never said anything to you about what you had made. Suddenly, your Echo was ringing.

“Hey, pumpkin. That nasty stack of paperwork done?” Jack said through what you could only assume was a mouth full of cannoli.

“Mhm. Finished it this morning while you were out. I also arranged your appointment calendar for the next month and a half.”

“Excellent. Can you come into my office real quick? I need to talk to you about something.” Oh. It must have been really important. Usually he would just call you on the Echo or email you info you needed to know. He only called you in if he was worried about someone hearing what he had to say beside you. Because you were his secretary, you were privy to pretty much everything that went on in Hyperion. You were almost like an advisor, as well as his secretary.

“Yeah, just give me a minute.” You stood up and straightened out your skirt. Taking a deep breath, you made your way down the short yet foreboding hallway from your desk to Jack’s office. Even though he had summoned you, you still knocked. Force of habit. From behind the door you could hear a muffled ‘Come in.’ Opening the door, you saw Jack sitting at his desk, feet on the desktop. Those god-awful brown sneakers rested on the top of some papers, and the plate of cannolis he had pilfered was in his hands.

“Y’know, you didn’t need to knock.” He took another bite of cannoli. “Come have a seat. Or stand, I don’t really care.”

You advanced towards his desk and sat down, crossing your ankles. “So, you wanted to speak to me? Is this about-”

“No, it’s nothing about the Vault Hunters or the company. I just wanted to speak with you privately because I noticed you’ve been bringing in a lot of cookies and shit. Not that I’m complaining, but its mildly concerning and if you keep up the pace I’m going to be bigger than that asshole down in mechanics.” Yeah, that guy was a dick. He’d keep flirting with you even after you had asked him to stop. You hadn’t mentioned anything to Jack because he was a good worker, even though he wasn’t that great a guy. You didn’t want more paperwork to add onto the pile.

“Oh, I uhm-” You looked away from Jack for a second and out the window to avoid his knowing stare. “I stress bake. It relaxes me after a long day of having to deal with people and mountains of paperwork. Besides, I like making other people happy with what I make so it kinda makes my work day better.”

“Have I been putting too much shit on your plate, (y/n)? If so please just tell me. Don’t want my right-hand woman getting burnt out.” He sounded… concerned. This was odd for him, usually he only cared about himself and Angel, his daughter. Jack took his feet off the desk and put the now nearly empty plate of cannolis on his desk where his sneakers had been. He leaned forward and looked at you. “Listen, kiddo. You gotta speak up for yourself more. I get that I can be intimidating when I’ve killed more employees than we’ve hired in the past month, but talk to me.”

You sighed. “I mean, having to fill out all those “accident” reports is getting annoying. Can you at least try to not kill any employee that annoys you?” You looked him in the eyes. “It’s not just me that’s been stressed. You haven’t been eating properly and you’ve been spending long hours here. A couple mornings I’ve come in and you’re asleep at your desk. It’s not healthy.”

Jack rolled his eyes. He wasn’t concerned about his well-being right now. “My health-”

“Don’t you dare.” You gave him ‘the look’ as he called it. The ‘I care about you and you need to stop burning yourself out’ look. “If I can’t burn myself out, then neither can you. You’re more important than I am, you run this damn company. Stressing yourself out like this is what those damn vault hunters want.” You crossed your arms. Jack sighed and looked down like a boy who had just been scolded by his mother. You were right, and he knew it. Would he admit it? Probably not.  
“Okay, sweet-cheeks. Just for you, I will go eat something of substance.” Jack looked up at you with a look of mild defeat.

“Good.” You smiled smugly, this was as close as you were getting to a ‘you’re right, (y/n).’

“After work tonight.”  
You rolled your eyes and let go of the smug grin, but a faint smile stayed on your face.

“You know what, cancel all of my meetings for today. And yours.” You looked at Jack, puzzled. “A self-care day is in order, and you’re coming with me. No work, just some time to relax.”

“What do you mean, didn’t you just say-”

“I changed my mind, and you better hurry up before I change it again.” Jack rose from his desk and grabbed the plate. “We’re going to my place, finishing these cannolis, and watching a movie. I might even let you pick.” You got up from your seat and followed Jack, your heels clicking against the cool tile floor. This was bound to be interesting.


End file.
